If you are asking, take the question seriously. It is rarely the hacking people imagine. It runs on ordinary technology: a shared account, Find My, a car app or a watch, set up while the relationship was good and never given up.
Read the next section before you touch anything.
These three steps apply whatever your situation is. Take them first.
Making changes before a specialist reviews your situation can alert the person monitoring you, and can destroy evidence needed for any future legal action. Wait until you have specialist guidance.
Letting someone know they are being investigated can escalate risk, cause them to destroy evidence, or increase surveillance. Seek professional advice before taking any visible action.
If you have already noticed something concerning, do not remove, reset or delete it yet. A specialist can use what is there to understand the full picture. Removing it first can make their job harder and may destroy legal evidence.
Since 2022 we have audited more than 14,000 phones and accounts. Most of the tracking we find is ordinary consumer technology, doing what it was set up to do.
Each was switched on while the relationship was good. None was ever given up.
None of it is hidden software, so a virus scan does not look for it. That is why a phone can come back clean while someone still knows where you are.
The first thing to check is your memory, not your phone.
Write down what you have already noticed. Do this from memory only. Do not go looking through your devices or accounts: actively investigating your phone can be distressing, and it may alert the other person if anything is being monitored. Let a specialist do that with you.
This record supports any later specialist review or legal process. Keep it somewhere the other person cannot reach. Treat any device or account they have accessed as potentially compromised.
One the other person has not had access to: a work computer, a friend's device, or one they do not know about.
Your browsing history will not be saved. On Chrome or Edge press Ctrl+Shift+N on Windows, or ⌘+Shift+N on a Mac. On Firefox press Ctrl+Shift+P, or ⌘+Shift+P. On Safari choose File, then New Private Window.
Reaching out to a service is the most important first step. You do not need to work through this alone first.
joliroRisk asks what has been happening, then shows where the risk sits and which services near you can help. It is free and anonymous, and it does not connect to your phone or your accounts.
Start the risk check →joliroDetect runs the same checks as our Digital Safety Audit, and guides you through your devices, accounts and apps one step at a time. It works anywhere in the world, in 27 languages, and is built not to alert anyone who may be watching. One run costs $10 per device.
About joliroDetect →90 to 120 minutes with a trauma informed practitioner, who checks your devices and accounts with you. You leave with a written report for police, legal aid or your own records.
If a domestic and family violence service is supporting you, ask your caseworker first: approved agencies fund audits for their clients.
Book an audit → About the audit →If you have someone check your devices, who does it matters. Ask how they work before you hand anything over.
We bought the stalkerware we could find and tested it on real phones, cloud accounts and consumer devices. Since 2022 we have audited more than 14,000 phones and accounts. Our research continues through an active partnership with the University of Canberra, including a sponsored industry PhD researcher studying technology facilitated abuse, and we publish what we find openly for the sector.
How our research began →This page is general information, not a safety plan. Any change to a device or an account should be guided by a specialist who knows your situation.